Latino Daily News

Body of Missing Uruguayan Student Found in Brazil

A Uruguayan woman attending Brazil’s Universidad Federal Latinoamericana who went missing last weekend was found dead with signs of being strangled, the university, known as Unila, said Friday.

The body of Martina Piazza Conde, 26, was found Thursday night in the apartment of some friends in the southwestern city of Foz do Iguaçu, where Unila is located.

“Investigations to identify the cause and day of her death are being carried out by the Civil Police,” Unila said in a communique expressing sorrow for the student’s death.

Unila, founded by the Brazilian government to offer courses in Portuguese and Spanish to students of Latin American countries, declared three days of official mourning.

Parana state police, who had been searching for Piazza since Monday, said the owners of the apartment told them they were traveling during Carnival and had asked the Uruguayan student to take care of the place.

While police refrained from revealing the causes of death, they acknowledged there were signs of strangulation and said they did not dismiss the hypothesis of homicide.

Investigators said they had asked for videos from surveillance cameras in the building where the body was found.

The student’s family had already asked for Interpol’s help in finding the young woman but had no further contact with the international organization after Sunday, when they spoke on the phone.